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Caterpillar
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Metascore
75 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 7 Critics What's this?

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  • Summary: During the Second Sino-Japanese War, a village woman is given the grueling task of looking after (and fulfilling the sexual needs of) her quadruple-amputee husband, a decorated solider tortured by memories of his war crimes. Based on a short story by Edogawa Rampo, Koji Wakamatsu’s film is a fascinating, deeply affecting indictment of right-wing militarist-nationalism — a partner-piece to the left-wing extremism of United Red Army. (Lorber Films)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    May 6, 2011
    100
    If it plays in any theaters beyond New York and Los Angeles, that'll probably come as a surprise to its distributor (the estimable Lorber Films). None of that diminishes the power and intensity of this claustrophobic mini-masterpiece of the Japanese antiwar tradition, which blends a B-movie aesthetic, brilliant use of montage and documentary elements and a scathing critique of nationalism and militarism.
  2. indieWIRE
    Reviewed by: Eric Kohn
    May 5, 2011
    83
    Before its spell unravels with overdone theatricality and on-the-nose flashbacks, Caterpillar succeeds as a kind of representational horror movie.
  3. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Joshua Rothkopf
    May 3, 2011
    60
    Based on a banned short story from the 1920s, Caterpillar might be read as a reaction to hawkish nationalism, but it's more a cry for the unknown soldier in the kitchen and bedroom.

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